Hydro-Québec - Business Customers





	Medium power (M)

	Small power (G)

	Rate G-9

	Rate GD

	Running-in for new equipment

	Interruptible electricity rate option

	Public lighting rates (in French)

	Rate BT


	Optimizing your billing demand

Example of a bill
at Rate M

Understanding the Bill and Rates
Medium Power (M)

Reliable energy at stable prices

Hydro-Québec offers basic rates suited to companies involved in a wide range of activities but with similar consumption and demand characteristics.

A flexible two-tiered rate

The Medium–Power Business Rate (M) is a monthly rate based on a 30-day billing period and composed of one basic charge and an optimization charge for billing demand, plus two price brackets for energy, depending on your consumption.

Who is eligible for the Medium–Power Business Rate (M)?

The Medium–Power Business Rate (M) applies to annual service contracts under which the minimum billing demand is between 100 and 5,000 kW.

An arrangement tailored to your needs

Contract power is the key component of your contract with Hydro-Québec.

You choose your contract power according to the nature and extent of your needs. In this way, you keep your annual electricity costs to a minimum while letting Hydro-Québec know how many kilowatts it will have to make available to you.

You can change your contract power during the term of the agreement to suit your changing needs or forecasts:

Increasing your contract power.
You can increase your contract power every consumption period (usually one month).
Decreasing your contract power.
You must wait 12 monthly billing periods following the last change before decreasing your contract power.
At the beginning of your contract.
Hydro-Québec offers you the opportunity to increase or decrease your contract power once at the beginning of your contract. If you wish, this new amount can be applied retroactively as of the first day of one of the last 12 consumption periods.

Structure of the Medium–Power Business Rate (M)

The Medium–Power Business Rate (G) is calculated on the basis of a 30-day billing period. The demand charge and number of kilowatthours in the first consumption bracket are prorated to the number of days in the period.

Demand charge
Billing demand Optimization charge	$13.44/kW $14.37/kW*
Energy charge
First 210,000 kWh Remainder of consumption	4.48¢/kWh 2.93¢/kWh

* This additional amount applies during the winter months (from December 1 to March 31) to billing demand (kW) in excess of 133 1/3% of contract power.
Rates effective April 1, 2008. Under no circumstances may this table be used to replace the Distribution Tariff.

How billing demand is determined

Billing demand is based on the higher of the following two variables:

Maximum power demand,
Maximum power demand, which corresponds to either real power (in kW) or 90% of apparent power (in kVA), whichever is greater; or
Contract power,
i.e., minimum billing demand.

Billing excess demand: Managing your consumption better

Power demands that exceed contract power have different impacts on Hydro-Québec's system depending on whether they occur in summer or winter.

In the summer months, overall demand is low and so the system can more easily handle increases. However, the opposite is true in winter. Since demand is very high then, Hydro-Québec must use peak equipment or buy electricity from neighboring systems. That is why our rates vary according to system availability.

If you exceed your contract power in the summer, only your demand power will be billed at the Medium–Power Business Rate (M). In the winter, you will have some room to manœuvre, but obviously less than in the summertime.

The power you use will be billed at the normal rate up to 133 1/3% of your contract power. If you exceed this limit, you have two options:

Pay a monthly optimization charge of $14.37/kW. This is the most advantageous solution if you only occasionally exceed the limit.
Increase your contract power if you expect to regularly exceed the limit in the future.

If your power factor, i.e., the ratio between your real power and apparent power, is less than 90%, it will most likely be to your advantage to improve it and thus reduce your electricity costs.


	Did you know? In any given billing period, your average cost for both power and energy decreases as your consumption increases. And since energy prices are 35% lower in the second consumption bracket than in the first, our Medium–Power Business Rate becomes even more competitive once the first kilowatthours have been consumed.